Mental Health What antidepressant has worked for you?

[Legally High]

I've been addicted to pain medication, benzodiazepines, phenibut, marijuana of course, you name it I've probably self medicated.

I've taken all the ssri's.
Effexor
Remeron
Trazadone
TCA's (elavil and just started desipramine)
ADHD meds
St. John's Wort
Most all drugs legal or not, except for MAOIs.
Exercise and diet

I like the way tripping has made me feel and wish I could maintain some of that headspace.
-everything is interesting
-feeling connected/ unity
-feel happy and things are funny

But I tend to feel burnt out after tripping.

What medication has worked for you?

 

[truenamebrand]

I've been addicted to pain medication, benzodiazepines, phenibut, marijuana of course, you name it I've probably self medicated.

I've taken all the ssri's.
Effexor
Remeron
Trazadone
TCA's (elavil and just started desipramine)
ADHD meds
St. John's Wort
Most all drugs legal or not, except for MAOIs.
Exercise and diet

I like the way tripping has made me feel and wish I could maintain some of that headspace.
-everything is interesting
-feeling connected/ unity
-feel happy and things are funny

But I tend to feel burnt out after tripping.

What medication has worked for you?

I've been on countless antidepressants as well, including several SSRIs, along with a few totally unneeded antipsychotics as well. None of them have worked. Ever. They always caused me even more problems than I already had.

My belief at this point is that there is an agenda afoot to keep as many people as drugged up and docile as possible.

What works for me is a cycle of a few days kratom, a few days benzos, a few days tianeptine. In other words, somewhat responsible self-medication. I do have a prescription for my benzo, I just do not take it anywhere close to every day as it's written, and typically take much larger doses than prescribed.

That being said, what actually does work at bringing me relief from anxiety, and yes depression, is the benzo. Specifically clonazepam. Despite the fact that benzos are known to exacerbate depression, they seem to do the opposite for me, and are the only thing out there that makes me feel "normal." I regain my ability to be motivated for simple things, and a sense of creativity I haven't had since I was a kid. They bring me a sense of relief from both anxiety and depression that allows me to focus my energy and attention on positive things rather than negative.

 

[nuttynutskin]

Prozac, but it fucked with my dick and I was only 24 or so at the time so I quit taking it.

 

[MDPV_Psychosis]

Wellbutrin has been the only one that has worked for me. I have never taken it for longer than a month, though. I hear, for some people, it doesn't always work so well long term. I've never taken it long enough to find out for myself.

 

[T. Calderone]

I'm going to move this to Mental Health since you're asking about antidepressants.

 

[truenamebrand]

Wellbutrin has been the only one that has worked for me. I have never taken it for longer than a month, though. I hear, for some people, it doesn't always work so well long term. I've never taken it long enough to find out for myself.

This was exactly the case for me. It's the ONLY AD that wasn't overwhelmingly negative, so I agreed to take it several months back. It worked decently for about two months, and then all the slight benefits just disappeared. And considering it raises my anxiety level as it is, I stopped it once again.

 

[fakeit2makeit]

Yeah. I've been through most of these.
IMO, antidepressants "work" by giving a minor stimulant effect. Most anyway. People don't realize it so they think they are better. The same thing could be accomplished by prescribing low dose adderall or whatever. Again in my opinion.

IME the only things that helps with depressive symptoms short of some major life changes and such are exercise, diet, socializing, and just keeping busy. Catch22 though. Impossible to find the motivation.

I'll stop there, as this isn't a mental health discussion.

 

[truenamebrand]

Yeah. I've been through most of these.
IMO, antidepressants "work" by giving a minor stimulant effect. Most anyway. People don't realize it so they think they are better. The same thing could be accomplished by prescribing low dose adderall or whatever. Again in my opinion.

IME the only things that helps with depressive symptoms short of some major life changes and such are exercise, diet, socializing, and just keeping busy. Catch22 though. Impossible to find the motivation.

I'll stop there, as this isn't a mental health discussion.

Antidepressants are so overprescribed that a huge % of the people who take them don't need them, so in many cases when they "work," it's nothing more than placebo.

And I would agree on the slight stimulant effect in regards to SNRIs, like Effexor. SSRIs, IME, tend to be the opposite. What scares me so much about them is the numbing and apathy they induce. Maybe that's how some would define "working" as well, but not me...

My GP said to me "more than half the patients she sees" are taking an SSRI. That is fucking disturbing.

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

I haven't taken very many, 4 common SSRI's and Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin was the only one that did anything, except Zoloft which made me unable to orgasm (not such a bad side effect as a 17-18 year old man). Unfortunately the only thing Wellbutrin did was make me more irritable.

I was frustrated with the whole system. I thought snri's would work better for me but my fucking doctors wouldn't prescribe them until I went through countless other rounds of drugs. They even gave me a mood stabilizer instead of the snri's, I just filled the script, threw them in the trash, and never went back.

 

[Ne0]

nothing, done all ssri and snris, lithium and other mood stabilizators, what you wthink they give me next? Lyrica 300mgx3 and nreurotin seems to help me but i cant tell to my docotr because he thing I abuse them (you never tell that once you tried them which you got from friend). Any ideas?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Ketamine & Cuddly animals

I actually don't suffer from depression but I do get anxious sometimes & those help a lot

 

[chasingabee]

None have worked for me and I have tried a lot. They just give me bad side effects.

But recently I read a book called "The Emperor's New Drugs" by Irving Kirsch who did some big meta analyses of antidepressant efficacy clinical trials. Basically he showed that they are nothing more than "enhanced placebos". The evidence is extremely convincing.

Check out this video to see what I'm talking about.
https://goo.gl/KCp2Ek

 

[Ne0]

None have worked for me and I have tried a lot. They just give me bad side effects.

But recently I read a book called "The Emperor's New Drugs" by Irving Kirsch who did some big meta analyses of antidepressant efficacy clinical trials. Basically he showed that they are nothing more than "enhanced placebos". The evidence is extremely convincing.

Check out this video to see what I'm talking about.
https://goo.gl/KCp2Ek

Exactly. And many people are brainwashed by their doctor that these will help, its all placebo if you feel better. Also anti-depressant WD's feels very baf, some even as bad as opioid WD (venlanxine). So why bother with them? Most likely you feel ablsoutly shit ofr 2 weeks, and maybe, only maybe, there is slight change you feel bette,r but how long time? Maybe they stop workign after 1 year. After gone over 10 different "anti-depressants" I'm not touching them anymore.

Meditate. That will help.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Lexapro made me put on 40 kg's and was near impossible to burn weight whilst on it. I switched to Cymbalta and that seems to have of helped me burn off weight and not balloon. Unfortunately as with all SSRI's they are a pain in the ass to come off due to the nasty side effects as such I have been now taking SSRI's for the last 4 - 5 years.

Overall it has made me less energetic but overall less depressed. Unfortunately my anxiety doesn't seem to want to fuck off and well the Dr's won't give me anything for that.

 

[Legally High]

It's so confusing trying to decide which one to take. Do I pick the one with the least initial side effects? Or the one that feels the best starting up even if it has bad side effects? I have lots of antidepressants, every ssri and more so it's just choosing.

 

[nancy145]

Effexor was the most helpful medicine prescribed specifically for depression that I've taken, but it sounds like it didn't work for you. I have some general depression, awful seasonal depression, and I used to go into incredibly deep periods of depression for 3-7 days about once every 5 weeks. I started on lamictal (mood stabilizer) which did nothing at first because you have to gradually raise the dose starting at innefective doses, but once I got to 150 mg it decreased my periods of depression to about once every 2 and a half months. When I doubled it to 300 mg, the periods of depression completely went away. I'm also prescribed adderall, specifically for sleep disorders and severe lack of motivation, which indirectly caused depression, since I couldn't even make it to school more than twice a week and was 3-4 hours late every day. The adderall got me back on track and helped me function, which greatly helped my depression. Abilify(atypical antipsychotic) helped some with my seasonal and general depression. 5-htp and l-tyrosine are two OTC supplements for mood that also helped a great amount. Low amounts of vitamin D can contribute to depression, so you could get blood testing and find out if you're low, in which case a vitamin D supplement would help. Try some of these. I hope you get better

 

[musclecarsforever]

For me from my experience, Mirtazapine 45mg (max dose) + Gabapentin 3600mg a day + fish oil supplements seem to do the trick for my Major depression (persistent depressive disorder)/Generalized Anxiety Disorder/Asperger's syndrome. The only side effect worth mentioning is that it makes me hungry as hell all the time, which isnt really a bad thing for me because im super skinny i am 5 ft. 9 140 pounds. It actually hasn't made me gain weight like everyone says it does lol. Hobbies help a lot (mine is outdoor motocross) but anyways I do also currently take Focalin instant release & extended release for my severe Attention deficit disorder which works wonders after the Concerta i took for years in middle school & high school stopped working eventually. Benzo's are the devil in disguise, i dont care what anybody thinks they are basically prescription booze in a pill with a similar hangover I think they are nothing but trouble.... i got so damn dependent on Xanax & Valium that stuff was nearly impossible for me to get off of, by far the most addictive thing i ever dealt with. In my opinion its the only thing i had serious difficulty quitting. Trazodone, Abilify, Prozac and Zoloft honestly gave me sexual side effects when i tried em. Wellbutrin is great, i know it works very well for many close people i know including my Dad, but for me it made me super agitated/mad haha. Everyones body chemistry (d.n.a.) is different so what might work for me might do the opposite for you. Clearly drugs effect each individual differently. Strattera and buspar did absolutely nothing for me when i was in the hospital but i will say that the internet expensive supplements 5HTP and L-tyrosine & L-phenylanine work for me but unfortunetly the effect is quite subtle/short lived you have to redose like 3-4 times a day it can be very time consuming to keep mixing it into tea or gatorade. Hopefully i will get to try effexor or seroquel in the future one day.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

MAOIs are powerful antidepressants. They come with a strict diet, though.

 

[lazydullard]

amiltryptaline worked the best for me once the dose got to 100mg. i'm currently on effexor and i'd say it helps. i've never gotten the supposed side effects of any anti depressant i've tried.

paxil did nothing, and wellbutrin helps too. but i'm with a new doctor and she prescribed effexor so i'm giving it a try.

 

[evo4ever]

I've been addicted to pain medication, benzodiazepines, phenibut, marijuana of course, you name it I've probably self medicated.

I've taken all the ssri's.
Effexor
Remeron
Trazadone
TCA's (elavil and just started desipramine)
ADHD meds
St. John's Wort
Most all drugs legal or not, except for MAOIs.
Exercise and diet

I like the way tripping has made me feel and wish I could maintain some of that headspace.
-everything is interesting
-feeling connected/ unity
-feel happy and things are funny

But I tend to feel burnt out after tripping.

What medication has worked for you?

First one I tried was Fluoxetine (Prozoc) which gave me horrific mood swings like hyper manic one hour (which I kinda liked lol) and then suicidal the next hour (which obviously I didn't like), and I could never sleep on it either, so I stopped it.

So I changed to Sertraline (Zoloft) which made me extremely angry to a point where I was close to smashing up my own house for no reason what so ever! So I stopped this too lol.

Then I changed to Mirtazapine (Remeron) which I find very good. It makes me eat more and Im skinny too so I need to put weight on (ive gained 2st (28lb)). It also makes u sleepy so its a very good insomnia/sleep aid. They say 15mg makes u more sleepy but im on 45mg (max dose) and that makes me sleepy so I disagree with the 15mg hypothesis. You take Mirtazapine at night becuase of this btw.

It's also reduced my depression and anxiety to a manageable degree.

So basically Mirtazapine can kill multiple birds with one stone IMHO

EDIT: Mirtazapine is a NASSAs class Antidepressant (They're probably the newest type of AD's but don't quote me on that lol)